ABSTRACT
The study of the natu re and origi n of knowledge is a branch of philosophy calied 'ep istemology'. In psycho linguis tics, we too are intcrested in epistemology since we are concerned with how a certain kind of knowlcdge, langu age knowledge, is acquire d. Back in Chapter 1, we discussed how childre n learn langu age but what we did not discuss is how the human infan t got starred in analysing and learn ing a language. Ooes the human infant use intelligente or innate Inng"lIge ideas, or both ? If it isthe use of intelligcnce, are infants then born with th is inte lligence or do they have to develop it? And if it is the use of innate language ideas, what are those ideas and how are they activated so as to ena ble the infant to learn language? O r, is it the case that neithe r are relevant and a study ofbehaviour conditio ning or functions can provide the explanatio n?
